Though it was almost half a year ago, I visited Wakkanai, the northernmost end of Hokkaido. Since it was the beginning of January this year, it was extremely cold outside with plenty of snow, and the streets were very slippery.

Wakkanai is closely connected to Russia, as it is just 40 kilometers from the southern tip of Sakhalin. When Sakhalin was part of Japan at the beginning of the 20th century, the city of Wakkanai played an important role in connecting Sakhalin’s ports by ferry.

Defense is also important since it is very close to the border, and there is a risk of letting illegal immigrants in and letting foreign ships invade this town.

Wakkanai is one of Japan’s cities symbolizing the tragedy of WWII. When the USSR began an invasion of the southern half of the Sakhalin Island after Japan’s surrender in August 1945, nine young women were working at a telephone exchange on the island. They were encouraged to escape from the island and flee to Hokkaido, as it was going to be a dangerous place very soon. They refused to do it and chose to stay there because they wanted to do their job until the last time. When Soviet Union soldiers came to where they worked, they took their lives as they didn’t want to be captured and molested by the soldiers. The memorial monument for them is built on the hill of Wakkanai city. I was eager to see this monument, but I couldn’t because the hill was closed due to heavy winter snow.

With one more day, I could’ve visited Cape Soya and seen Sakhalin Island over the Soya Channel. This would be a good reason for me to visit Wakkanai again this summer.